Considering the number of red-zone opportunities the Cedar Grove-Belgium football team had Friday night, it might be assumed that the Rockets had an easy time disposing of Manitowoc Lutheran.However, it took several defensive stands in the fourth quarter for Cedar Grove-Belgium to prevail, 14-7, in its home opener.The Rockets (1-1) had six drives inside the Lutheran 20-yard line but came away with only two touchdowns.“Just the characteristics of a young team,” Cedar Grove-Belgium coach Chris Zablocki said. “We will work on finishing.”After Aaron Chier scored on a 1-yard run in the second quarter, junior Taylor Heiden padded the Rockets’ lead with a 1-yard touchdown carry in the third quarter.Cedar Grove-Belgium’s defense controlled the line of scrimmage for all but one drive, when the Lancers went 80 yards and scored on a 5-yard run by Tyler Blatter with 9:17 left in the game.The Rockets outgained Lutheran, 289-135, with Chier collecting 100 rushing yards on 20 carries.“Except for one drive when Manitowoc Lutheran ran it down the field, we controlled the game, which was good to see,” Zablocki said.Although the Rockets bounced back from a tough loss to Mishicot in their season opener, they took some tough hits, including what looked like a serious knee injury to starting lineman Dan Gjertson.

Second-place finish in last year’s Division 3 final leaves CG-B girls hungry for more

Coming off a second-place finish at last year’s WIAA Division 3 state cross-country meet, the Cedar Grove-Belgium girls’ team is ready to reload with four of its top five runners back in the fold.A new challenge awaits the Rockets, as well.Cedar Grove-Belgium has been bumped up to Division 2 and will face tougher competition. What’s more, girls now run a 5,000-meter race instead of 4K.Even so, coach Les Paul’s goals haven’t changed.“The girls are already showing great improvement, and with a new year running 5K, it looks like it will fit our running style perfectly,” Paul said.Senior Lily Paul, the coach’s daughter, will again lead the Rockets after placing third in the state run last season. “She will run hard again this year. She is our lone repeat varsity senior and will lead the team,” the coach said.Also back for the Rockets are sophomores Sydni Loose, Emily Sass, Elysia Hoopman and Maggie Turchinski.

If football games were decided by which team has the most scoring chances, the Port Washington Pirates might have walked off the field with a victory last Friday night.As it was, the Pirates were left to wonder “what if” after they fell to Kewaskum, 20-14, in nonconference play.Besides coming up short three times on fourth-down plays in Kewaskum territory, Port committed three turnovers, the most costly of which occurred early in the fourth quarter.With his team trailing by six points, linebacker Robert Greisch recovered a Kewaskum fumble at the Port 47-yard line. But on the very next play, a fumbled exchange by the Pirates gave Kewaskum the ball back.The Indians drove to the Port 13 before giving the host team another chance. This time, quarterback Michael Prochnow’s pass in the left flat was intercepted by cornerback Bennett Fleischmann, who raced down the sideline before being tackled near midfield.A holding penalty on Fleischmann’s return gave the Pirates the ball at their 18, and they couldn’t get their offense started again. Port’s final two possessions netted only four total yards, ending in a punt and interception.